***-->The Official Dell Adamo Thread<--***

Thanks for the input Cin. I will wait till fall and make a decision depending on what is coming out.

 

I checked something. If you order the same Adamo package I did, the premilinary ship date is now 4/10/09! What the hell is going on, Dell?

 

Sure, I will order that *Adomo*, and you can buy it for me.
Until that happens, I will gladly use my 1530 as backup.

Well, something is going on with the production line if they are already having issues at the start of production. Seem's like they have this with each new model, no matter what the price point is...

Yeah, that is prob's a good idea!

Take that information, and contact your Rep, and see what he/she has to say. They will probably advise you that you can reorder if you wanted..ask how long your delay is going to be.

Cin

 

Yeah, it makes you wonder how much better the "Adamo experience" will be compared to the regular Dell experience in terms of wait times, hardware issues & customer service. I own an Acura and to be honest, the customer service at my dealer isn't any better than the local Honda dealers in my region. I mean it's not bad, but compared to my friend's Lexus dealer, forget it.

 

For what it's worth, if the Adamo gets shipped faster than two months it'll still beat the last roll-out of the Macbook Air. The base model got delayed for ages too. I don't know what it is with "luxury ultra portables" but a lot of them come with frustrating initial delays.

 

Well, Dell just canceled my order for the DVD addon citing the Federal Mail Order Rule. What?

Know what? I'm canceling my order for the Adamo. This is too ****ed up.

Edit: I should add that Dell contacted me last week for permission to continue the order. I replied and said yes. They replied back that all was good.

This is what they said in the email today:

We want to inform you that your order was canceled under the Federal Mail Order Rule. To learn more about the Mail Order Rule, click here. We regret that there was a delay in processing your order and that we were unable to connect with you to get your permission to continue processing it. We hope you will consider purchasing with Dell for your future needs.

 

*sigh*....*sigh*

I think you really need to speak with someone on the *Upper* Escalation Team.
Try this and see if it get's you anywhere.
Forward a copy, of all your documentation.

Dell Unresolved Issues:

https://support.dell.com/support/to...outstanding_issues?c=us&l=en&s=gen&redirect=1


Cin

 

I went through and canceled my order for everything last night. For the same price, Maingear offers a 13.3 with Blu-Ray, 8 gigs of Ram, 500 gig hard drive, a much, much, much faster processor. Maybe I'll go with that.

 

Yeah, but that thing is a brick, more than twice as thick as the Adamo (and no digital video output). They're not in the same category.

 

Awww..thats too bad..and Shame on Dell..in this case...

I was hoping you would have been one of the first (and very few) peeps to have ordered the Adamo!

Well I hope whatever lappy' you end up getting, turns out to be the best one for you, going forward!


Cin

 

that adamo introduction video looks like chanel commercial .

 

Has anyone taken delivery of their Adamo yet?

 

Nope..As far as I know, only 2 peeps on the forum have ordered. And, one has already cancelled due to *Dell Order Delay/Contact* problems.

And, the other forum member is still in *production*

Cin

 

I ordered one last week and it's in production. Estimated delivery date is 4/14.

 

Excellent, can't wait for your review!

 

Nearly 2 weeks away! Sweet!


Cin

 

Which config? I looked at the top-end one ("Desire" I think) immediately after they were released and the date on the web site then was the 28th. I placed my orders a couple days later and my ship date (for 3) is 5/1.

EDIT: (2) White cases are scheduled for 4/14 and the (1) Black case for 4/17.

 

I ordered the cheap-O model . I just checked the EPP site and it shows both models shipping by 4/20.

 

Just an update, but I spent my monies on a Core i7 Studio XPS 435 with 8 gigs of RAM and Blu-Ray burner. Still $500 cheaper than the Adamo. I admit, the Adamo looks very cool, but thats it. Truth be told, I have an 2nd gen spected out Air anyway.

 

Nice, thanks for the update! Sounds like all is working out for you!


Cin

 

Eh, I'm looking at a new desktop as well. I was waiting on a new Optiplex with the Core i7 but Dell hasn't delivered yet. I think I'm going to go with the Precision T3500 or T5500 instead.

 

I tried to get a quote for an Adamo using our company's business account but my Dell rep could not create one for me, he said that they are off limits to the business channel. It seems bizarre that Dell would turn away paying customers when their sales numbers are low. (I do realize the Adamo isn't a business-oriented machine)

 

Has anyone found a review on the Adamo yet? I just googled and can't find anything. I'm a little tempted to place an order. The only thing holding me back right now is the lack of reviews.

 

Nope no factual *owner* reviews yet..I couldn't find any on youtube yet, either...perhaps soon, as expected ship dates were in *mid* April!


Cin

 

Engadget did an unboxing and quick first impressions here.

 

Mine shipped today so it should be here in a couple of days.

 

Nice! Can't wait to hear all your feedback on it! And some pic's (hopefully)...


Cin

 

No they're not, I ordered three (two white, one black, all "Desire" models) through my Business rep.

The black one I ordered shipped Saturday and is supposed to be delivered Wednesday, though the tracking would lead me to believe it will be here tomorrow.

 

I thought it could be done..I just couldn't remember who had ordered, and it was you!

I bet your excited to receive them on Weds!

Cin

 

Mine has been picked up and is due to be delivered tomorrow.

I do have a problem though. I thought the Adamo wasn't going to be shipped until next week so I bought an outlet XPS 16 to play with and possibly return. The price was too low so I had to bite. I was a little surprised (understatement) when I logged into my account to check the status of the XPS to see both systems had shipped. My wife is going to kill me. I want to keep the Adamo, but I'm afraid the RGB display, blueray, and T9400 CPU of the XPS are going to lure me away.

 

HaHa! LoL..kidding..Well, maybe you can convince your wife, that you should keep the 1640, as *backup* incase something goes wrong with the Adamo, and she will *gingerly* keep the Adamo for herself

You never know..it might just work!


Cin

 

Ok so has anyone here received their adamo yet?
If so I/WE would love some pictures. All dells stock pics are all spruced up and taken with expensive cameras that make them look better than they really are

 

We'll you're in luck because I have a crappy camera.

 

haha lol

 

Good, we won't look forward to your pictures, then!

Look above, peeps will be receiving theirs this week


Cin

 

My other two (the white ones) shipped yesterday afternoon.

 

I don't.

I'm bringing in some Canon L glass tomorrow. Pics and first impressions will be up as soon as the packages arrive. Hopefully FedEx won't drop the ball like they did when I ordered my first E4200 (they claimed we were "closed" at 2:15 in the afternoon and refused to come back out).

 

That's awesome, can't wait to get your first impressions of them

Cin

 

I'm looking forward to your not crappy pictures.

 

I've got 11 boxes out for delivery from Dell and all three Adamo systems are in there...

The "basic" cases are seriously backordered though. I'm hearing the middle of May from my rep.

 

That's nice to know, that they are on delivery to you......Are you talking about the special sleeves?? being on backorder?


Cin.

 

Delivered about a half hour ago. Will post pics and thoughts shortly...

Yes, I plan to keep the special sleeves on order. If I find an alternative then I may cancel them but finding a case for a notebook of this size isn't easy.

 

First thought: God am I glad I didn't order the Black one for myself. This thing is a fingerprint and dust magnet. You can see the dust on it from being open for 3 minutes on a couple of the pics and touching it ANYWHERE leaves fingerprints and smear marks. The white one, thankfully, doesn't have this issue.

Second thought: Wow, so this is what a chassis made from a single piece of aluminum feels like. Nice and sturdy, not actually as heavy as I thought 4lbs would be, though definitely heavier than my E4200.

Everything else: The screen is much nicer in contrast and color representation than the Latitude E4200, though the glare from the shiny coating is absolutely insane when the screen is set for lower light levels. Even with closing the blinds on my office window I still get glare. Use outside would be OK if you increase the brightness well above the default level, though that would bring with it a sharp decline in battery life.

The buttons on the touch pad require more effort than most, and the pressure needs to be on the inside edge of the buttons, and the keys on the keyboard require less pressure than I thought they would, though the larger keysize with no fall-off on the edges is going to take some getting used to.

Unlike the E4200, the system is silent when idle. That said, when you start to use hard the fan kicks in and it seems to only know two levels, 0% and 100%.

Pictures:

Some of these have been cropped, most have just been resized. I may replace these with full-res images later. The two images of the bottom of the systems really give a good idea of the texture of the system.




If anyone wants to know anything specific then just ask.

 

Nice pictures! It's nice that the fan is off when idle. How loud is the fan when it does come on though?

Cnet gave it about 3 hours of battery life, which seemed quite low. What battery life does it show in the Vista power icon when you unplug it? When you get to use it enough that you can comment on typical battery life, that would be great.

Cnet also noticed keyboard flex. Can you confirm this?

 

How solid does the keyboard feel? Any flex?

 

More thoughts: There is a significant border around the edge-to-edge screen. About 1.5cm on the sides, 1.75cm on the top, and 2.25cm on the bottom. Based on screen size alone, this machine could have been a lot smaller.

Don't use the backlit keyboard unless it's dark. It makes it impossible to read the keys and some of the special keys (Home, Insert, etc.) are not in the "normal" place.

Audio output is actually pretty good for a notebook of this size. I was wondering about the speakers when I first unboxed it (because I didn't see any) and it turns out that those "vent holes" on the back are where the audio comes from.

 

It's like a jet engine, actually MUCH louder than the E4200 that I already complained about. That said, I've had one running here playing music (at full volume) for about 10 minutes now and it hasn't kicked in at all. For a total of 30 minutes of up time the fan has been on for about 10 seconds. I think the aluminum chassis is actually keeping it pretty cool on its own.

Will see, though since I sit at a desktop all day, this may take a day or so to actually test.

The keyboard as a whole does not move. The individual keys do have a bit of motion to them but not so much that I'd complain about it (and I complain about everything). I do think the keyboard on the E4200 has a better feel to it though (but it's ugly).

 

I just lifted the machine off my desk and it's barely warm. The E4200 (with the same hardware) runs a lot hotter, even with the fan blazing all the time.

 

Another note, Dell seems to have ditched the nice mouse-enabled BIOS that ships with the Latitude E-series and other high-end system for an old Phoenix BIOS setup.

128GB SSD is described as "SAMSUNG SSD Thin uSATA-(S1)". VT, Dynamic Acceleration, USB Power Share, etc. all come enabled by default (unlike the E-Series).

EDIT: 45 minutes in and the fan has started to run more often. I'd say about 30 seconds out of every 5 minutes. The good news is though that it seems to have learned more speeds. If I define what I heard originally as 100% then I'd say that it's now hovering around 70-80%.